Posts Tagged With: party

This past Saturday was kind of a big deal here in Mwanza and was also a rite of passage for me. Mom, Aunt Amanda, Jill, and Al hosted the Konyagi Prom at my house so it was my very first Prom. I chose mom as my date, which I know may be a bit nerdy, but she’s my favorite woman after all.

My tie matched mom’s dress

But, I’m getting ahead of myself in the story of my first Prom. Jill and Al are married and they’re staying with me, mom, and Aunt Amanda for a few weeks. Even though Jill and Al are married, Al still had to formally ask Jill to the Prom and he used BlackCat to do this, with my supervision of course (Cats can’t be fully trusted to complete tasks like these on their own).

Alan wrote Jill a poem and attached it to BlackCat with a ribbon. After careful consideration, Jill accepted Al’s invitation and they became official Konyagi Prom dates!

Jill accepts!

BlackCat delivers the invitation

My women (Jill, mom, and Aunt Amanda) went all out preparing their dresses, hair, and makeup, while Al was in charge of decorations. I must say, they did an AMAZING job. Mom even made sure that I was dressed for the occasion in a tuxedo and turquoise tie.

Matching my momma, would you expect anything less?

My fancy schmancy outfit

We set up a nice balloon arch at the entrance to our house, which is apparently what happens at Proms in America (mom really should have prepped me a little more for this American cultural tradition since I am American after all and this is the first I’ve ever heard of anything called a Prom!) Everyone posed by the balloon arch for photos as they arrived so that we could remember the night forever. The hosts (me, mom, Aunt Amanda, Jill, and Al) all got our photos taken here as well. Aren’t we a good looking bunch?

Family portrait!

Konyagi Prom hosts!

Over the course of the night, I had the chance to meet tons of new friends and also carry on flirtations with several pretty ladies as well. Miss Miranda was one of my new friends, but then Miss Megan starting flirting with me…

The flirtation between me and Miss Megan begins

My new friend Miss Miranda

And then there was the dancing! Wow! My ladies sure can move it on the dance floor and I didn’t hesitate to join them! They played all my favorites: “Call Me Maybe”, “Party in the USA”, “We Found Love”, and more! I was super excited when my crush, Miss Megan, asked me to dance with her (I’m blushing).

Dancing with my new crush, Miss Megan

Kicking up a storm with the ladies

And then there was “Gangnam Style”. Oh god. Apparently this song is big in the US right now, and maybe everywhere else too, except for Tanzania (We always get everything about 5 years too late here). Mom, Aunt Amanda, and Megan, for some reason, felt the need to show everyone at the Prom the ridiculous dance that goes along with this song. If you’re not familiar, here’s a link to the video (be prepared to be amused, also if you haven’t yet seen this and you live outside of Africa, you must be living in a hole): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0.

I don’t normally get embarrassed for mom, but honestly, did she HAVE to do this ridiculous dance with Aunt Amanda and my new crush Miss Megan?

Seriously mom, please stop

All that dancing and flirting made me tired. I haven’t been working out as much lately and my stamina is not what it used to be, so I decided to take a bit of a nap during the party…

Excuse me for a moment while I rest my eyelids

…And next thing I knew, it was 1:30am and everyone was leaving and the house was a disaster-zone. But that’s a sign of a successful party, right?

The next day, I was still pretty tired, but I had to do my lap around the house to survey the party damage. Overall, it wasn’t too bad, just some forgotten beer and Konyagi punch. Also, thank god for Agatha!

It’s happening again: more people are leaving Mwanza and I’m NOT happy about it. This time it’s my Miss Courtney, Jason, Ethan, and Amber, to name a few. In just a few short weeks (although not too short for me since I’m a dog and 6 weeks in my life is like a year and a half in your life) I’ve come to really love all these people.

Miss Courtney has been living with us for 6 weeks now and the house will seem so empty with her gone. She’s kept me company while mom’s at work and has been helping out at Kuleana Street Children Centre too. I’m sure all the kids there will miss her almost as much as I do, I mean, look at all the fun they’re having:

Courtney and the kids at Kuleana

Ethan has been keeping mom and Aunt Amanda occupied with all his awesome movies and has also been keeping them in shape with his Insanity work-outs, so here’s hoping they don’t get bored and fat in his absence! Ethan and Amber are students at Cornell University (the same as mom and Aunt Amanda) and they were here to work at Bugando Medical Center, which is one of the biggest hospitals in Tanzania. Here they are going into work in the morning:

Amber and Ethan heading into Bugando Medical Center

Lastly, there’s Jason. He and I have been friends since Day 1. For some unknown reason, we just clicked from the beginning and now we are best buddies. Jason works at NIMR like mom and Aunt Amanda, but he’s more of a computer guy. Look how much fun I’ve had with him and Miss Courtney:

Getting a little lovin’ from Courtney and Jason

So, of course, we did what we always do when people we love leave: we had an epic going away party! This time we decided to have a party in the spirit of the Olympics since the Opening Ceremony is just a few days away. I’ve never heard of these “Olympics”, but mom tells me that people from all over the world get together to play games and the winners get treats. Sounds like my kind of event!

No party is complete without decorations, so Aunt Amanda and Miss Courtney made flags to represent all of our friends while I stood by to supervise.

Party Decoration Time!

We thought it would be fun to form teams, like they do at the real Olympics, so mom and I represented Denmark (mom’s Danish after all, which makes me Danish by default even though my breed lineage is German. Lucky me, I got to wear my big sister Greta’s old Denmark shirt that she outgrew long ago, it’s pretty special since my big sister Greta was named after the Queen of Denmark!) and Miss Courtney and Aunt Amanda represented Rwanda because they’re both traveling there this week. Coincidentally, Rwanda is mom’s favorite country in Africa, I hope I get to go there someday!

Team Rwanda and Team Denmark

To get the party started I decided to play DJ and put on some fabulous dancing tunes, such as Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe“, which happens to be one of Ethan’s (and mom’s) favorite songs right now:

Spinning some tracks

And of course, no going away party would be complete without having a good cuddle with the people who are leaving me. I love you guys!

As I mentioned yesterday, it’s leaving season in Mwanza and the next group to follow Mr. Marcel was the Hinton family. I first met John Hinton at the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) when I was there to eat lunch with my mom. NIMR is where my mom works every day and they also have a canteen there, which is how we all got to know John. The first thing he said when he saw me was that he would like to take my leash, which was connected to my red halter, and whip me around in a circle for fun. That sounded cool to me, but mom vetoed this idea and John may have been kidding anyway!

John worked at a place called Bridge 2 Aid. This organization helps people in Tanzania who don’t have access to dental care. Specifically, John worked in the community helping to organize income generating activities like sewing. I think this is a great idea and would love to buy some custom-made couture dog clothes in Tanzania! Here’s a photo of John playing guitar at his going-away party:

John Hinton, playing guitar

I met John’s son Jimi in Mombasa when I went to support the Mwanza Tossers frisbee team while they played in a tournament. Jimi worked at a place called Forever Angels Baby Home. Forever Angels is a home for orphaned and abandoned babies. It’s so great that these little cuties get so much loving and care at Forever Angels! Here’s a photo of Jimi, and his awesome mohawk, at the frisbee tournament in Mombasa:

Jimi’s awesome mohawk

Of course John and Jimi couldn’t leave Mwanza without a big party for all of their friends and I was lucky enough to be personally invited to the Hintons’ going-away party. I think John likes me 😉

So many people showed up to say goodbye to the Hintons

I wore my special Maasai scarf, styled fashionably by mom for the occasion:

I think I’m looking pretty fiiiiiine

There was lots of yummy food and great entertainment at the party. First, John and Jimi and their band, The Mosquitoes, played some songs for us.

John on guitar and Jimi on drums

Watching The Mosquitoes play

After the music, John decided to unveil his new magic trick. This was all so exciting for me since I’ve never seen a live band or a magician! The magic trick involved an imaginary deck of cards, which I didn’t really understand, but the crowd seemed wowed by it and so I was impressed too.

John performing his magic trick with Austin

Watching the magic trick with Aunt Amanda

The whole party was so much fun that it made me even more sad that the Hintons were leaving, but I guess that’s just how things work here in Mwanza. Mom and I are here for another full year, so I’m just going to have to get used to saying goodbye 😦

In the past few weeks, several of my good friends have left, but I’m most upset about the fact that Mr. Marcel is leaving Mwanza. Apparently, he got a fancy new job and has to move to Moshi, which is another town in Tanzania. On a side note, I don’t like this “job” thing that humans do. My mom has to leave me every day because of her “job” and now Mr. Marcel is leaving me forever because of his “job”. Moshi is very far from Mwanza and this means I won’t get to see Mr. Marcel on a regular basis. If dogs could cry, I probably would.

Because Mr. Marcel is leaving, he decided to have a going away party. And because Mr. Marcel is so classy, he had an extra fancy party, with caterers and drink servers. I wore my party t-shirt and matched Mr. Marcel for the occasion.

We match!

Rocking my Party T

Mr. Marcel has a ton of friends in Mwanza and so lots and lots of people showed up to say goodbye. This included Aunt Amanda and Miss Courtney, my favorite girls in Mwanza.

We’ll miss you Mr. Marcel!

Mr. Marcel’s house is very dog-friendly for me and Farley because he has a lounge with mattresses and pillows on the floor instead of big stuffy couches. He also has fancy sheets made of Thai silk (which he clearly did NOT buy in Mwanza) that I love to roll around on. A dog could get used to the finer things in life! Perhaps if I sprawl out on Mr. Marcel’s Thai silk sheets, then he won’t be able to leave!

P.S. Can you tell that “fancy” is my new favorite vocabulary word? I really am my mother’s son 🙂

Mmmmmm, Thai silk, I like!

Speaking of dog-friendly, I’m really gonna miss Mr. Marcel’s awesome yard. I’ve had so many good times there with Farley, at doggie daycare and playing in the pool. OH MY GOD, do you think that Mr. Marcel is going to take Farley with him to Moshi??!!! I don’t know what to do without my best friend…

My mom’s been under the weather, and being the awesome dog-child that I am, I’ve been taking care of her and haven’t had time to update my blog, and for that I profusely apologize! Anyhow, mom’s better and I’m back!

This weekend, we had a party to celebrate my 10-month birthday and also to welcome Miss Courtney to Mwanza. Miss Courtney is Aunt Amanda’s little sister and she’ll be staying with us for several weeks. It’s only been 2 weeks, and I’m already smitten.

Me and Miss Courtney hanging out before the party, LOVE HER!!

For the party, Aunt Amanda decided to make a special drink, like they do on shows such as Jersey Shore. Because this was a party in my honor, Aunt Amanda decided to call her new drink “Tito Juice”. The drink consisted of locally-sourced Tanzanian products all whipped up in a blender. If you want to make your own Tito Juice at home, you’ll need: a watermelon, a pineapple, lime juice, Konyagi, and a blender. After the juice was made, I got to taste it and boy was it yummy! I’m proud to have my very own cocktail named after me.

Enjoying some Tito Juice

And did I mention, mom got me a very special outfit for the occasion, a tuxedo! I was probably the best-dressed mammal at the party. Because I was so fancy, mom decided we should have a special dance together with our fancy outfits on.

Watch us get our groove on

Our party got pretty big as the night wore on, and also because it’s summer here in Mwanza. During the summer, the mzungu population explodes because students are on break and come here to do internships or research. I met one especially fun boy named Jason at the party Saturday night. He brought sunglasses and let me wear them so I could look super cool.

Super Fly with Jason

Our party got crazier and crazier as mom and her friends played their strange games with beer. Luckily, our Maasai guards were on hand in case people got too rowdy.

Our Maasai have our backs

Overall, it was another successful Mwanza party thrown by Aunt Amanda and mom. And lucky me and Miss Courtney got to be their guests of honor! Won’t you come join us next time??

Aunt Amanda is getting old! Yesterday she turned 24 YEARS old, and I’m only 8 MONTHS old. I can’t imagine someone living that long, and you know what? My mom is even OLDER than Amanda! She better not die before me.

To celebrate Aunt Amanda’s birthday, we planned a birthday party for her on Saturday at our house. We had all the necessary equipment for a proper birthday party, such as beer, Konyagi, lots of cups, and ping pong balls. As a special surprise, Mr. Marcel made me a fancy outfit for the occasion. He dressed me up like our Maasai guard so that I could help keep the order at the party.

Mom in her Africa dress and me in my Maasai outfit

Towards the middle of the party, mom and Catherine disappeared to prepare a surprise for Aunt Amanda, which was a cake with candles and making everyone wear a birthday crown while singing Happy Birthday, even I was included in the surprise.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

The night went on and on, these people stayed FOREVER, so eventually I just put myself to bed. I guess, since I’m still just a puppy, that I’m not old enough to stay up that late at night.

In the morning, when mom and I got up, I was shocked at the state of our house. There were cups and bottles EVERYWHERE. But, since I’m a good little puppy, I helped to clean up by licking all the sticky stuff off the floor.

Licking up the aftermath

Then mom reminded me that we have Anna and that she would help to clean everything up. This is why we love Tanzania!

I’m still recovering from the big party mom, Aunt Amanda, and I hosted on Saturday night, but Aunt Amanda said I had to write about the fun we had on my blog, so here I am.

Relaxing with my piggy

Mom started out by putting me in my party shirt. It’s a pretty sweet shirt from Petco that says KISS on it that dad sent from America, plus it’s the very first time I’ve worn a size Medium, I’m growing up! Mom told me to be on my best behavior because we were going to have a lot of people at our house who I hadn’t met before. Normally, I like to show visitors that I’m the boss so I bark at them until they get the point, but I agreed that I wouldn’t do that at the party because it might get quite annoying.

Mom and Aunt Amanda re-arranged all the furniture in the house in order to make room for a game they wanted to teach all the non-Americans. This game is called beer pong and it is a shared favorite between mom and Aunt Amanda. I’ve never played this game before, but from the amount they talked about it, I figured it must be good.

Before the guests came, mom made a drink and she even let me taste it! She said it was a mixture of Red Bull and vodka and that now that I was six and a half months old I could start to try adult drinks. I felt so special being treated like a grown-up in my party t-shirt and drinking alcoholic beverages. I must say, I’m not entirely sure why mom likes this drink so much, but I wanted to be cool and I’m not super picky so I had a few sips.

Me in my party tee and first 'real' drink

The first people to arrive were my regular ladies, Caoimhe, Annabelle, and Catherine. These girls love me (and I love them too) so I felt super comfortable welcoming them to the party.

Me and my lady friends

Once Catherine arrived, it was time to start this beer pong. Basically, from what I can tell, the humans throw a tiny white ball at a group of six cups of beer and if the ball goes in then one of the humans drinks the beer. What I didn’t realize is that dogs are not allowed to play, however no one told me this before the game started. The first time the ball flew off the table, I went for it because that’s how it normally works with me and balls, but all the ladies scolded me and took the ball away. I was so confused because I thought that I was going to be treated like an adult, but NO, apparently there are still some things that I’m just not allowed to do 😦

Aunt Amanda and Catherine playing beer pong

Slowly, more and more people arrived until we had about 30 people at our house! As the night wore on, mom and Aunt Amanda introduced yet another game they learned in college, called Flip Cup. This game turned out to be very popular and the non-Americans even bested the Americans in one round! It was exciting to see the cultural exchange happening. Mom and Aunt Amanda taught Tanzanians, Germans, South Africans, Kenyans, Canadians, and Brits how to play classic American drinking games.

Mom plays Flip Cup

I must admit, even though I want to seem like an adult, it was pretty overwhelming for a little puppy like me. So every so often I would sneak away from the party and have a little nap on mom’s bed.